From the cover: Fifteen-year-old Zeeta moves around and lives in a different city every so often with her flighty English-teaching mom, Layla. Layla, who lives in the moment, quotes mystical poetry, and hangs out with penniless artists and scraggly-haired clowns. But Zeeta yearns for the normal life she sees in American magazine ads. This year, Zeeta finds herself in the Ecuadorian Andes, where sacred waterfalls grant wishes and old Incan gods dwell in mountains. In the colorful marketplace of Otavalo, an American teenager, Wendell, asks Zeeta to help him search for his birth parents. The quest leads them to adventures in an indigenous village, with its crystal caves, exotic gardens, and venomous creatures. Nearly everyone is hiding a secret, including Wendell himself. As Zeeta and Wendell’s adventures bring them closer together – and closer to danger – they find themselves growing closer to fulfilling their greatest wishes as well. But is the truth worth pursuing no matter what? Could a surprising reality be better than a long-held fantasy? And most important of all, what is it that will truly make their spirits fly?
This year, Zeeta finds herself in the Ecuadorian Andes, where sacred waterfalls grant wishes and old Incan gods dwell in mountains. In the colorful marketplace of Otavalo, an American teenager, Wendell, asks Zeeta to help him search for his birth parents. The quest leads them to adventures in an indigenous village, with its crystal caves, exotic gardens, and venomous creatures. Nearly everyone is hiding a secret, including Wendell himself.
As Zeeta and Wendell’s adventures bring them closer together – and closer to danger – they find themselves growing closer to fulfilling their greatest wishes as well. But is the truth worth pursuing no matter what? Could a surprising reality be better than a long-held fantasy? And most important of all, what is it that will truly make their spirits fly?